Size Adjustable Hat that Provides Different Height Options for Ponytails

ABSTRACT

This embodiment gives baseball hats a custom feel. The embodiment has an opening from the button down the back panels. The opening is fastened up either looking like a ladder with the ladder design or like shoelaces with the crisscross design. This embodiment fills the need for flexibility in ponytail heights unlike the other baseball hats that have fixed ponytail positions. This embodiment will create a variety of ponytail height locations along with a size adjustable advantage from the stretchy material used in the lacing. The user will be able to choose a ponytail height for that given day, an advantage that popular baseball hats do not provide. The legal scope should not be limited to the forms shown.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The embodiment relates to athletic baseball hats. More specifically the embodiment relates to the positioning and adjustability of the ponytail hole on the hats.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:

U.S. Patents Patent Number Kind Code Issue Date Patentee 4,446,571 1984 May 8 Ross 4,815,148 1989 Mar. 28 Satterfield 4,872,218 1989 Oct. 10 Holt 5,384,916 A 1995 Jan. 31 Portney 5,428,843 A 1995 Jul. 4 Clowers et al. 5,511,249 A 1996 Apr. 30 Higgins 5,799,334 A 1998 Sep. 1 Griffith et al. 5,926,850 A 1999 Jul. 27 Han 5,933,872 A 1999 Aug. 10 Lema 6,170,086 B1 2001 Jan. 9 Lee 6,240,566 B1 2001 Jun. 5 Scantlin 6,647,553 B2 2003 Nov. 18 Hoyez 6,711,749 B2 2004 Mar. 30 White et al. 5,321,854 Al 1994 Jun. 21 Kronenberger

BACKGROUND

A lot of hats available in the market today restrict the user to one height of ponytail, typically in the middle or lower part of the hat. The prior art listed shows several different hats that provide unique ponytails. However these hats still do not provide multiple different height options for ponytails. One massive hole in the back of the hat is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,566 to Scantlin (2001). This massive hole does allow the user to wear an array of hairstyle options but it is not specific to ponytails and does not have specific ponytail height locations.

There is a need for flexibility with ponytail heights while wearing a hat.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiment will look like a baseball hat from the front. The back of the embodiment will have specific designated areas for the ponytail to go through at different height levels. These designated ponytail areas will be created by an opening from the top of the embodiment to the bottom of the back of the embodiment. This opening will be laced up or stitched up to form the designated ponytail holes. The laced or stitched back could look like a ladder with horizontal dividers or it will look like shoelaces with the material being crisscrossed creating the designated ponytail holes. The lacing will be made with stretchy material making the embodiment size adjustable. This embodiment makes it possible to choose a custom ponytail height when wearing a hat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts the front of the embodiment showing basic elements of a hat. The button, the panels, and the bill are shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 depicts the back of the embodiment showing the ladder design. The ladder design has horizontal stretchy material to stitch up the opening on the back of the embodiment creating the ponytail openings.

FIG. 3 depicts the back of the embodiment showing the crisscross design. The crisscross design has the stretchy material laced down the opening in the back of the embodiment by crisscrossing. This lacing is attached to the panels by being strung through eyelets that are sewn on the panels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the front of the embodiment. The front of the embodiment looks like a baseball hat. The body of the embodiment is made up of panels 22. The panels 22 are connected at the top of the embodiment by a button 23. The hollow, half circle that the panels 22 and button 23 create gives the embodiment shape, making it wearable on the users head. The circle button 23 at the top of the embodiment is also used for decoration to distinguish the top of the embodiment. In the front of the embodiment there is an arched bill 20 that protrudes from the bottom panels 22 to shield the users face.

The back of the embodiment is depicted in both FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. Both figures show an opening 25 down the back center of the embodiment with designated ponytail holes. The opening 25 down the back of the embodiment provides space for the hair to exit the embodiment. It also provides a spot for the lacing 24,26 to be able to create specific ponytail height hole locations. The lacing 24,26 is what creates the specific ponytail hole height locations through the opening 25 in the back of the embodiment. FIG. 2 depicts the ladder design having four stretchy pieces of material stitched horizontally 24 across the opening 25. FIG. 3 depicts the crisscross design showing the opening 25 crisscross laced 26 with stretchy material to create the designated ponytail holes. The lacing on the crisscross design 26 will be strung through eyelets 27, where as the horizontal lacing 24 will be stitched on to the panels 22. The embodiment will be made size adjustable by having the lacing 24,26 in stretchy material.

The users hair will be able to go through the openings 25 that both lacing 24,26 styles create. The term lacing or fastening in this case is used to refer to the opening down the back of the embodiment being connected together by any means and with any type of material. 

1-5. (canceled)
 6. A hat, comprising: a top end at a center of the hat and a rim extending about a bottom end of the hat; an opening in a back side of the hat, the opening extending from the top end of the hat to the rim extending about the bottom end of the hat; and a piece of stretchy material that extends across the opening to divide the opening into a plurality of holes, each of the plurality of holes sized to allow a ponytail to extend through the hole.
 7. The hat of claim 6 wherein the hat includes a button at the top end of the hat and the opening extends from the button at the top end of the hat to the rim at the bottom end of the hat.
 8. The hat of claim 6, wherein each of the holes is located a different distance from the top end of the hat than the rest of the holes and a different distance from the rim at the bottom end of the hat than the rest of the holes.
 9. The hat of claim 6, wherein the opening has a length that extends in a direction from the top end of the hat to the rim at the bottom end of the hat and a width that extends perpendicular to the length, wherein the length is greater than the width.
 10. The hat of claim 9 wherein the width is around 2 inches.
 11. The hat of claim 6, wherein the piece of stretchy material is stitched to another portion of the hat.
 12. The hat of claim 11, wherein the piece of stretchy material extends horizontally across the opening.
 13. The hat of claim 12 wherein the hat includes a plurality of pieces of stretchy material that are each stitched to another portion of the hat, and that each extend horizontally across the opening to divide the opening into the plurality of holes, each of the holes sized to allow a ponytail to extend through the hole.
 14. The hat of claim 13 wherein the plurality of pieces of stretchy material includes four pieces of stretchy material and the plurality of holes includes four holes.
 15. The hat of claim 6, wherein the hat includes a plurality of eyelets and the piece of stretchy material extends through the eyelets.
 16. The hat of claim 15, wherein the piece of stretchy material is laced through the eyelets.
 17. The hat of claim 16 wherein the hat includes a plurality of pieces of stretchy material that are each laced up through the eyelets, and that each extend across the opening to divide the opening into the plurality of holes, each of the holes sized to allow a ponytail to extend through the hole.
 18. The hat of claim 17 wherein the plurality of pieces of stretchy material crisscross across the opening.
 19. The hat of claim 18 wherein the plurality of eyelets includes eight eyelets, the plurality of pieces of stretchy material includes two pieces of stretchy material, and the plurality of holes includes four holes.
 20. The hat of claim 19 wherein the hat includes a piece of stretchy material that is stitched to another portion of the hat at the bottom end of the hat and that extends horizontally across the opening at the bottom end of the hat. 